US State Department posts Rubio’s ‘stupid people’ remarks on anti-India racism, then quietly deletes it
Marco Rubio's racist remarks response went viral after the US Secretary of State addressed anti-India comments during a press conference in New Delhi.
As an institutional hawk on China, Rubio represents the faction within Washington that still views the Indo-Pacific through a structural lens rather than a balance-of-payments ledger US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was on a four-day visit to India, was asked about racist comments targeting Indians in America during a joint press conference held in New Delhi. Rubio’s response was posted on social media by the US State Department, which went viral online, but was deleted later.
The response by Rubio, wherein he dismissed the racist comments against Indians as coming from “stupid people” in every country, went viral as it was widely interpreted as an indirect jibe at US President Donald Trump.
Rubio was asked about anti-India remarks that have recently cropped up in the United States on May 24, when he was attending a joint presser along with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The question referred to President Trump’s endorsement of remarks made by podcaster Michael Savage on America’s birthright citizenship being abused by India and China.
The question to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was posted on X. (Photo: US State Department/ X)
“A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet,” the transcript quoted Savage as saying, which was shared by Trump on his Truth Social account last month.
Rubio asked the reporter, “Who made those comments? Which ones?” and the journalist responded saying the remarks were “very well known” and that they have been endorsed at public forums.
Rubio said, “I don’t know how to address that, but I’ll take that very seriously… I’m sure there are people that have made comments online and other places because every country in the world has stupid people. I’m sure there’s stupid people here. There are stupid people in the United States that make dumb comments all the time.”
The US Secretary of State added, “The United States is a very welcoming country. Our nation has been enriched by people who come to our country from all over the world, have become Americans, have assimilated into our way of life and have contributed greatly.”
Rubio’s response went viral on social media as several netizens said that he inadvertently took a swipe at President Trump while others debated that the US secretary could have been aiming at Savage instead.
Share
